History/Folklore: Eurapean Mistletoe was considered a sacred herb in Celtic tradition (Natural Standard, 2014). The herb has a history of use in ancient Greek and Roman medicine (Natural Standard, 2014). The Eclectic’s used large and frequent doses of the fresh plant to facilitate labour (Bone, 2003, p. 329). In the beginning of the 20th century Mistletoe became a cancer therapy in herbal medicine potentially due to the herbs immunostimulatory and cytotoxic actions, however it is yet to gain significant clinical evidence to support this (Natural Standard, 2014).

American Mistletoe (associated with Christmas tradition) is a different species with similar properties, but different traditional uses (Natural Standard, 2014).